Work benches?

[imdying]

A mate built his out of 100x100 with 2 layers of 20mm ply as the bench top. With a vice bolted to it, you can fair beat the shite out of things. Hell I could park a Harley on it and it wouldn't budge.

[F5 Dave]

Just paint the wood top & it will wear. In 5 or 10 years buy a new piece of wood & screw it to the top. By the time yer 60 you may need a stepladder. Or you just unscrew some tops.

If you can have a dirty area & a clean bench. A small sturdy bench for drill & grinder (+ essential wire wheel) + vice bolted for sawing; in an easy to sweep corner & the work bench on the other side where there is good light. Stops swarf intruding everything else on the bench. Some shelves by the bench mean less clutter on bench, they tend to shrink with clutter.

Toolboxes are good for the track, but the 'old man' type shadow board is the best. I have a low bench for wheeling a bike on & bought a small table that I place my not often used tools in toolbox upon, then a piece of MDF bolted to the back of it which became a shadowboard. So much easier than rolling draws open & closed. Can decant into toolboxes for the racetrack.

[F5 Dave]

Just have a pic from an old thread of my shadowboard (& old nail on my bike bench)

pic down in post 10. So you can walk behind the tool island, but it could be on a wall.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ight=butterfly

Also my workbench almost visible in background, but not my dirty bench which is in another corner with the lathe & compressor etc.

Also read the tools for motorcyclist thread at the top of this section. Isn't a bad thread if I say so myself.

[dogsnbikes]

, I have been lead to believe a new washing machine dryer combo is a more important purchase, as I say we will see

Agree too the washing machine and dryer combo as when they are placed end on end they make a great work bench for the bike



If you can get an old state house bench top and pull the vaneer off, chances are they are hardwood and approx 50mm thick I have two benchs like that and one complete with cupboards......

The missus also got me a telescopic lamp,wall mounted fan and a hydrollic bike hoist

Oh a endless chain(chain block) is handy too

[The Lone Rider]

I run a particle board work bench that has it's frame reinforced with 2x4 pieces, and half of the top covered in a sheet of stainless. The other half is the painted board.

Other things you might want to consider - a fire extinguisher, and a volatiles cabinet away from where welding takes place.

I have an extinguisher near the inside of the entry/exit and the cabinet is off to the side away from the welder and bench. It has all the paints, solvents, butane, etc that shouldn't catch sparks or hot swarf.

[Mort]

I built one a couple of years ago....still going well.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ight=bikebench

[Pumba]

Wow heaps of info. Keep it coming if you have got it.

I picked up a work table for the bike a couple of years ago. Best thing I have ever spent my money on, steel frame on a great set of industrial castors, can be wheeled anywhere I need it.

Yea liking the shadow board Dave. Not a bad idea.

Thinking that timber is the way to go, but will pick up an old stainless sink as well.

Now what height an depth?

[pete-blen]

I have 2 work shops... inside & outside under a roof..
out side ones for grinding/cutting/welding etc..
Inside is the clean one where the lathe & mill sit..
bench tops are a old formica kitchen unit tops
on 100x50 wood frame... 900 high , 600 wide..
600 wide is good.. wide enough to keep pushing
the stuff at the front back to get clean bench space...lol

out side ones real hi-tec...old fridge on its side...
( one of those get round to it projects that yer never get round to)

[Flip]

Mine are simply 5/8 particle board 2.4 long by only 600 wide, with a light 1" angle frame. The back of the board is screwed to the wall and the front leg angles back to the point where the wall and the floor meet. I also have a single 300 mm wide shelf inder the bench. The only thing I do do is mount my big vice on a 3" square RHS leg that takes the stress.

I am a bit of the old white board junkie as well.

[F5 Dave]

Where are your shadows Phil? Call yourself an engineer? Pah!

[Flip]

Once upon a time I couldn't spell it, now I is one.

[wysper]

I was reading the bits about painting the top of the workbench.
Made me think that painting an area on a wooden one with blackboard paint would be useful for making those quick notes about measurements. And if it was metal maybe that whiteboard marking paint stuff for notes too.

Course you would lose the chalk or whiteboard marker so maybe that isn't such a good idea afterall....

[F5 Dave]

ahh, would get greasy straight away. + that stuff is hella expensive for a tin of paint. Have a notebook & a biro.

[gatch]

My main welding table is 2.4M x 1.8M with a 25mm deck, it's got 12mm taped holes at 200mm spacing. With a handfull of cheap screwed rod I can clamp prety much anything where I want it.



I do. Except the shaper and hob, they wouldn't pay for their floorspace nowadays. In fact the vertical bandsaw's on the endangered list, I get sheet / plate stuff cut by either waterjet or laser within 48hrs to much higher tolerances.

Our hob is running at least monthly. I used it last year to generate a gear with 800odd OD (2DP) ? As for the shaper is it hardly touched, been used 3 times in 4 years I've been at work. For cutting keys more than 20mm wide in a hub. Ha and our bandsaw more often than not is used to cut ply wood or plastic.

[clint640]

Good points above. Solid is good. Bolt the bastard down. I have a long wooden bench, I'm about to put a steel top on one end for welding & to provide a nice flat surface.

Not too thick along the front is also good - you want to be able to clamp stuff to it easily. Put the vice where the best natural light is if you can. Paint the wall behind the bench a light colour.

I'm also planning getting some old kitchen cabinets to go underneath for extra tool storage. (I am a tool addict & since I got my own shed the tools have been multiplying quite steadily...) I have a few files, hacksaw, hammers etc on the wall behind the vice but try to keep most other tools shut away so I can spray a little sawdust or swarf around without it getting in everything.

Cheers
Clint